VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
----------

PHAN THỊ NGỌC ANH

ENGLISH INTONATION: ERRORS MADE BY THIRD YEAR
STUDENTS AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT,
CHU VAN AN UNIVERSITY

MA Combined Programmed Thesis

Hanoi, 2012


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
----------

PHAN THỊ NGỌC ANH

ENGLISH INTONATION: ERRORS MADE BY THIRD YEAR
STUDENTS AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT,
CHU VAN AN UNIVERSITY
(Ngữ Điệu Tiếng Anh: Những Lỗi Thường Gặp
Của Sinh Viên Năm Thứ Ba, Khoa Tiếng Anh, Trường Đại Học Chu Văn An)

MA Combined Programmed Thesis


1.2 English intonation .................................................................................................6
1.2.1 Definitions of intonation ...............................................................................6
1.2.2 Systems of intonation ...................................................................................7
1.2.2.1 Tonality ............................................................................................8
1.2.2.2 Tonicity ............................................................................................8
1.2.2.3 Tone ..................................................................................................9
1.2.3 Structure of intonation ..................................................................................9
1.2.4 Functions of intonation ...............................................................................11
1.2.4.1 Informative function .......................................................................11
1.2.4.2 Communicative function ................................................................12


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1.2.4.3 Attitudinal function ........................................................................13
1.2.4.4 Grammatical function .....................................................................13
1.2.5 Intonation-related errors .............................................................................14
1.3 English Tonality ..................................................................................................15
1.3.1 Nature of tonality ........................................................................................15
1.3.2 Identification of tonality .............................................................................15
1.3.2.1 Neutral tonality ...............................................................................15
1.3.2.2 Marked tonality ..............................................................................16
1.3.3 Components of tonality ..............................................................................26
1.4 Error and error analysis .......................................................................................31
1.4.1 Definition of error .......................................................................................31
1.4.2 Error Analysis .............................................................................................31
1.4.2.1 Identification of errors ....................................................................32
1.4.2.2 Description of errors .......................................................................32
1.4.2.3 Explanation of errors (Tracing errors to their sources) ..................32
1.4.2.3.1 Interlingual Errors ..........................................................33

3.1.1.1.2 Errors of joining short units (Js).......................................49
3.1.1.2 Errors of splitting one intonation unit into more than one unit ......50
3.1.1.2.1 Splitting marked tonality at clause boundary without
comma (Sbwc) ................................................................50
3.1.1.2.2 Splitting marked tonality at clause boundary with comma
(Sbc)................................................................................51
3.1.1.2.3 Splitting tonality after the stressed in the head (Shs) .....51
3.1.1.2.4 Splitting tonality after the nucleus (Sn) ..........................52
3.1.1.2.5 Splitting tonality after the unstressed in the head (Shu) .53
3.1.1.2.6 Splitting tonality in and after the pre-head (Sp) .............53
3.1.1.2.7 Splitting tonality at unstressed syllables of tail (Stu) .....54
3.1.1.2.8 Splitting tonality after direct objects (So) ......................54
3.1.1.2.9 Splitting tonality after subjects (Ss) ...............................55
3.1.1.2.10 Splitting tonality at the changing point in the dive-Sd 56
3.1.2 Research Question 1.2 – Error Explanation ...............................................56
3.1.2.1 Interlingual errors ...........................................................................57


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3.1.2.2 Intralingual errors ...........................................................................58
3.1.2.2.1 Over-generalization ........................................................59
3.1.2.2.2 Ignorance of rule restrictions..........................................59
3.1.2.2.3 Incomplete application of rules ......................................60
3.2 Research Question 2: Correlation Investigation .................................................62
3.2.1 Research Question 2.1 Perceptive ability and productive ability ...............62
3.2.1.1 Better scores in perception task than in production task ...............63
3.2.1.2 The smaller number and the less frequency of errors in the
perception task than in the production task ...................................65
3.2.1.3 The fewer number of students making different types of errors in

APPENDIX 6. ACADEMIC RESULTS ................................................................... X
APPENDIX 7. APPROACHES TO TEACH INTONATION ............................... XI
APPENDIX 8. TECHNIQUES TO TEACH INTONATION ............................... XIII
APPENDIX 9. PRINCIPLES TO TEACH INTONATION ................................... XV
APPENDIX 10. TEACHERS‟ ROLES IN INTONATION TEACHING............ XVI
APPENDIX 11. EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES FOR PRACTICE ............... XVIII


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LIST OF TABLES

Table 01: Rules of Neutral and Marked Tonality
Table 02: Stressed and Unstressed Words
Table 03: Structure of Intonation
Table 04: Instruments
Table 05: Types of intonation units
Table 06: Types of errors made in two intonation tasks
Table 07: Probable Causes to Tonality Errors
Table 08: The Allocation of Marks
Table 09: The Difference in the Scores of Intonation Tasks
Table 10: Frequency of Errors in Perception and Production Task
Table 11: The Allocation of Errors
Table 12: Types of Errors Made in Two Tasks
Table 13: The Number of Errors Committed by Members of Ability Groups
Table 14: The Number of Students Made Errors by Two Ability Groups


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- So: Splitting tone units after objects
- Sd: Splitting tone units in between of the dive
- Stu: Splitting tone units in the tail
- Tone unit boundary: // or / (for closely connected units)
E.g.: // The bus stopped // we‟d got to the terminus //
E.g.: //Do you really mean to tell me / you haven‟t got a suit since then? //


1

PART A. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Intonation is a helpful tool to achieve effective communication. Speech without intonation
features is no more than a machine output. Therefore, a proficiency in intonation is a
requirement for non-native learners of English. English intonation operates a trio of
systems including tonality (the choice of intonation unit), tonicity (the choice of the tonic
syllable or the nucleus) and tone (the choice of pitch movement on the nucleus). Each
subsystem itself, however, is a fairly complicated phenomenon. It is why when teaching
and learning English, both Vietnamese teachers and students pay more attention to
grammar, vocabulary, individual sounds; and pay very little attention to intonation. This
prevents learners from comprehending spoken English. Neglect of intonation in the past,
nonetheless, is now no excuse for neglect in the present.
For students at English Department, Chu Van An University, who will become translators
or interpreters of English in the near future, knowledge of English intonation is extremely
essential. Especially, those who intend to work as interpreters are obliged to work mostly
with spoken English. If they are not good at intonation, they are unable to interpret
meaning implied under what the native speakers say. Likewise, they may cause some
misunderstanding due to wrong use of intonation. From the teaching reality, I have realized
that my students encounter no few problems in speaking English intonationally. They even
find it difficult to identify correct intonation units, more difficult to determine the nucleus

Detect common errors in relation to English intonation units made by third year
English majors of Chu Van An University;



Find out the causes of these errors;



Investigate the relationship between participants‟ perceptive and productive ability;



Identify the correlation between third year students‟ language proficiency and their
ability of dividing speech into word groups;



Explore learners‟ beliefs and attitudes towards learning English intonation as well
as their solutions to the problems they made with English intonation units.

4. Research Questions
The specific objectives of the study can be elaborated into the following groups of research
questions:
1. Error analysis


3

1.1 What are the common errors in dividing speech into tone units at the


The Introduction offers the rationale for choosing the topic, the scope, the aims, the
objectives, the research questions, the significance as well as the design of the study.
The Development consists of three chapters in which
Chapter 1 - Literature Review - addresses the literature review of previous studies and
the theoretical issues related to English intonation. Within the chapter, nature, system,
structure and functions of intonation are discussed. Then one of the intonation systems
namely tonality system is specifically addressed. After that is coming to a section of error
analysis.
Chapter 2 - Methodology - presents an analytical framework used in the research to
reveal problems encountered by students including the instruments to collect data, the
procedures for data collection as well as data analysis applied in the study.
Chapter 3 - Data Analysis and Findings – is the most important part of the study in
which the data collected from such instruments as the perception and production tasks, the
academic result, and the questionnaire are analyzed one after another. The findings from
the data collected are presented and discussed in this chapter.
The third part of the study - the Conclusion represents the review of the study with the
summary of the thesis, concluding remarks, recommendations, and suggestions for further
study.


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PART B. DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 Previous works related to the topic of the study
As far as the researcher concerns, not many studies on intonation errors are found. There
are a few studies on intonation involving Arabic and Japanese language as follow:
Binghadeer (2008) investigated Saudi EFL learners‟ pitch range and compared it to that of
native speakers. The results revealed that non-native speakers differed significantly from

made by Vietnamese learners.
Beside the book, the researcher found few studies on common errors related to English
Intonation made by Vietnamese learners. There are studies on intonation of yes-no
questions, or studies on separated elements of intonation. The following is the summary of
their findings.
Tam Dao Thi (2007) dealt with intonation in terms of functions and form with contrastive
analysis of three main components namely rhythm, stress and pitch. Nonetheless, the study
focuses on the similarity and differences in intonation of English and Vietnamese Yes-no
questions only. The study claimed that those differences surely cause problems to
Vietnamese learners of English, but the researcher find no information about what the
problems are.
In Nga Vu Thi‟s paper (2004) pitch – a component of intonation – has been considered one
of modality markers in English Wh-question. However, no information about the relation
between pitch and errors made by Vietnamese students are found.
Actually, there have had few studies related to tonality errors in intonation learning, there,
obviously, do exist a large gap in taking a step into creating a picture of intonation error
analysis. Intonation is important but complicated. However, it is systematic, too. In order
to become competent in intonation, it is the first system of intonation – tonality - that is
elementary to be acquired by students and that tonality errors are essential to be analyzed.
For that reason, it is necessary to have an overview of English intonation in general and in
English tonality in particular.
1.2 English Intonation
1.2.1 Definitions of intonation
Different linguists have different definitions for intonation. According to Paul Tench
(1996: 1) “intonation refers to the rise and the fall of the pitch of voice in spoken
language”. This definition to a certain extent shares the same content with Gerald Kelly‟s
definition. He (2000: 86) emphasizes that “the term intonation refers to the way the voice


7

Opposite to the idea that intonation is so subjective, in the view of Tench (1991:84)
“Intonation is admittedly personal, but it is also conventional”. The statement is clearly
demonstrated by the fact that intonation is systematic, and the systems can be described.
There are three primary subsystems of intonation, namely, tonality, tonicity and tone.
Nonetheless, due to the focus of the present thesis, system of tonality is gone into more
details in a separated part.


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1.2.2.1 Tonality
Paul Tench (1996:31) considers tonality as the system in intonation that divides spoken
discourse into its separate individual intonation units, each of which represents one unit of
information. Spoken discourse may be only one word, even only one syllable, a sentence
or the whole text. It may consist of only one message, one or more than one piece of
information which is conveyed by an intonation unit. Thus, if a spoken discourse consists
of only one syllable, one word, or represents one message, there is no problem. Otherwise,
learners of English will face with difficulties in identifying intonation units which correctly
represent the speaker‟s management of the organization of information.
1.2.2.2 Tonicity
It is generally the case that what informs the hearers most will receive the most prominent
stress – “tonic stress”. Moreover, stress clung to syllable. Thus, the syllable receive the
tonic stress is called “tonic syllable”, “nucleus”, or “tonicity”.
System of tonicity is the range of choices in the position that the tonic syllable can have in
a given intonation units. Tonicity or tonic syllable is the focal point of intonation, the heart
of an intonation unit, so it is the tonic syllable that is the compulsory part of each
intonation unit.
Tonic syllable is characterized by phonetic prominence in intonation units. Of the stressed
syllables in any given intonation units, the tonic syllable is made most prominent by a
combination of pitch, volume and length. As tonic represents the focus of each unit of

I have an idea to begin this section with a very familiar saying (1) “A ′dog is a ′man‟s ′best
′friend.” It is most likely to be said with the word “friend” being most prominent and the
pitch of the voice falling to a low level on that word. With these features, the word “friend”
is said to be tonic syllable or nucleus. The part from “a” up to “best” is considered the “pre
tonic segment” which can be divided into the “pre-head” with the unstressed word “a” and
the “head” which begins with the first stressed syllable “dog” up to the word right before
the nucleus “best”.
The sentiment of the above saying could be rendered as (2) “′Dogs are ′men‟s ′best
′friends.” In this case, the utterance has only nucleus (friends) and head (Dogs are the
men‟s best). If we put the wording on a different situation (suppose the topic of the
conversation is different, say, which animals are men‟s best friend, and someone says (3)
“′Dogs are ′men‟s ′best ′friends” with a contrastive emphasis on “dogs”. Instead of having
pre-tonic segment with pre-head and head, this intonation unit has only the tonic (dogs)
and the tail (the words subsequent to the word “dog”).
From three examples, we have a table as follows:


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Pre-tonic segment
Tonic/nucleus
Pre-head
(1)

A

(2)

Tail


Tail
(T)

Structure of intonation here is shown through structure of each intonation unit in an
utterance. According to Paul Tench (1996:12), structure of an individual intonation unit
consists of pre-tonic segment and tonic or nucleus and tail. Among those, the tonic is
obligatory and the most prominent word; the head, pre-head and tail are optional
Tonic syllable is the most prominent syllable in an intonation unit. Each intonation unit has
one and only one tonic syllable. This means that the tonic syllable is an obligatory
component since it carries the tone in the intonation unit.
The chart also reveals that pre-tonic segment is composed of two smaller parts namely prehead and head. The head extends from the first stressed syllable up to but not including the
tonic syllable. If there is no stressed syllable before the tonic syllable, there cannot be a
head.
The pre-head is comprised of all the unstressed syllables in tone-unit preceding the first
stressed syllable
Any syllables between the tonic syllable and the end of the tone unit are called the tail.


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In brief, intonation is structured. It has units and parts of the units. In all, tonic (or nucleus)
is obligatory, and the other parts of the unit are optional.
1.2.4 Functions of intonation
Intonation performs a number of different roles in English. Paul Tech (1996:16) introduces
six major functions of intonation including informational, communicative, attitudinal,
grammatical, textual and indexical function. Unlike the two latter functions which operate
on a large body of discourse, the four preceding ones concern single units of intonation and
individual pieces of information. Actually, just with the operation of these four functions,
intonation helps to convey the meaning of messages, which led the researcher to the
decision to address only four most major functions in the present study. These four happen


// They sent Joan / a waitress / from the hotel //

(Joan, a waitress, is now is sent away from the hotel.)
1.2.4.2 Communicative function
Whereas the informational function of intonation presents the management of information,
the communicative function is to present the speaker‟s purpose in saying something. It
addresses the question “Why is it being said?”. This function is also called by another
name “discourse function” which refers to the intended effect that the speaker wishes to
produce on the hearers. The hearers are able to acknowledge whether the speakers are
telling them something, asking them, ordering them, pleading with them or just plainly
greeting them or thanking them. Therefore, it is said to be able to convey the listeners what
kind of response is expected. It is principally the tone system that performs this role.
Generally speaking, a falling tone in an intonation unit denotes „speaker-dominance‟: the
speaker knows, tells, orders, demands. On the other hand, a rising tone denotes „speakerdeference‟: the speaker asks, requests, or coaxes.
Take the utterance “//You like it, // don‟t you? //” as an example. The tag “don‟t you?”
here can be spoken with either a falling or a rising tone. If it is spoken with falling tone, it
shows a degree of certainty; but with a rising tone it expresses a degree of uncertainty. The
difference between the statement tag and the question tag is purely a matter of intonation.
//You like it, // don‟t you? // (uncertainty)

//You like it, // don‟t you? // (certainty)


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1.2.4.3 Attitudinal function
As being mentioned in the previous parts, the informational function of intonation answers
the question “What is being said?”, the communicative function addresses the question
“Why is it being said?”, the third function – the expression of attitude answers the question

(5) He ASKED himself. (He asked nobody else but him)

(6) He ASKED himSELF. (He himself did the asking)

1.2.5

Intonation-related errors

There is much that can go wrong in intonation. A fault in intonation may appear when
learners have the wrong number of intonation units in their responses or when they place
the tonic on the wrong syllable. Even when they identify the right tonic syllable but
without the right tone on it, they still make a fault. Also, learners of English may use an
intonation form for the wrong function, or they may get the pitch pattern of the pre-tonic
segment or the tail wrong. However, the errors with tonality, the tonicity and the tone are
the commonest.
Tonality errors emerge when learner utter the response as two intonation units instead of as
one, or as one instead of as two. Here is a good example given by Tench (1991:95).
Compare the two possible versions of the sentence “he has a cup of tea normally.” If the
speaker utters the sentence with “normally” in a separated intonation unit, we would
interpret the utterance as he has a cup of tea as usual. If there is no tonality break, the
speaker would appear to suggest that the person has a cup of tea in a normal way, in
contrast to someone else who has a cup of tea in an abnormal way. Learner may intend the
first version but happen to say the second and cause raising of eyebrows.
The second type of intonation errors related to tonicity. In English, tonic principally is on
the last lexical item, but normally can be placed almost anywhere in an intonation unit
depending on the speaker‟s intention and attitude, whereas in other languages, the placing
of the tonic is more fixed. Therefore, learners of English may find it difficult to
accommodate to the more flexible placing of the tonic.
The problems with tone probably the most regularly occur. Learners usually have
difficulties in producing tones that do not exist in intonation system of their mother

single unit of intonation, but it has to be worded, and this is where grammar comes in. The
clause is an obvious unit of grammar to handle a typical piece of information since the
subject represents the theme (what the message is about), and the predicate represents the
rheme (what the message actually is).